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BC offering $850 rebate to scrap your old car and buy an e-bike

The provincial government and CleanBC have released a new strategy to promote cleaner, more active transportation.

“Move. Commute. Connect.,” is the theme of the strategy.

The strategy’s main goal is to double the percentage of trips taken with active transportation by 2030. Currently, the percentage of trips made with a bicycle within BC is 2.5%.

“Our government is focused on protecting the environment and working in partnership with communities to improve our walking, cycling, and other active networks,” said George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. “By making it easier for people to move around our communities using active transportation, we cut down on carbon pollution and help make life better for people.”

The plan includes a number of incentive programs to encourage active transportation, one of them being a “scrap-it” e-bike rebate.

It provides an incentive of $850 towards the purchase of a new e-bike to people who scrap their high-polluting vehicles.

“Technology improvements, such as e-bikes, have helped to make cycling more viable over long distances and provide a cycling option for people of different ages and abilities,” reads a report from CleanBC. “However, e-bikes are significantly more expensive than regular bicycles.”

In-depth details about the rebate program, such as how to be accepted into the program and what qualifies as a “high-polluting vehicle,” have yet to be explained.

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure will also provide funding to promote “Learn to Ride” programs and safer routes to schools, as a means of making active transportation more accessible to youth.

Move. Commute. Connect. will review the Motor Vehicle Act to address the definition of road users. Specifically, emerging transportation modes will be included, such as electric bikes, skateboards, and scooters.

Cost-share funding will also be provided to communities to help build and complete safer transportation networks and connections.